PFAW asks DC’s residents and supporters to head to the White House this Saturday

Thu, 06/23/2011 - 2:21pm — Jen

The House Appropriations Committee convened this morning at 9:30 am to consider the DC appropriations bill that the DC subcommittee[1] passed last week. We are currently waiting for word on whether any DC riders were added, in addition to those already included in the bill[2] concerning reproductive freedom and public education.

Washington, DC residents, who already lack voting representation in Congress, have been treated even more like second-class citizens by this Republican Congress, adding insult to injury.

Republicans used the budget deal earlier this year to attack DC home rule and District women's access to healthcare. They banned the use of local funds (NOT federal tax dollars) from being used for reproductive healthcare for low-income women.

Now, Republicans are threatening a series of "policy riders" on the DC appropriations bill for 2012 that would micro-manage the lives of DC residents from our classrooms to our safety to our health, having already passed more attacks on women's health and public education.

So much for the "party of small government."

Please join us, along with DC residents and DC rights supporters from the greater metro area, THIS SATURDAY, at 11:00am at the White House to tell President Obama to stand up for DC.

Let the president know that this attack on DC residents' fundamental rights is a deal breaker. Both he and the Democratic leadership in the Senate need to stand up for the nearly 600,000 residents of our nation's capital -- come out this Saturday and let them know it.